Catch Your Breath: The Secret Life of a Sleepless Anaesthetist

Product Information

On top of this it's moving without being overwrought, and insightful about the issues facing the NHS without being preachy. I read this book in one sitting because it was simply brilliant, even when my Apple Watch told me it was time to move around I stood up and carried on reading because I didn’t want to put it down!

Ed weaves his humanity through this, with frequent and tender references to his family, in particular his parents which leaves you in no doubt as to the man he is. Catch your Breath is a gut punch of a memoir by a doctor – and comedian – whose job is to keep people alive after putting them to sleep. It reminded me that humour is the greatest tonic we have, that at it darkest it is the most healing, the more perverse, the more irrelevant the funnier it can be.What struck me most was the realization that their contribution extends far beyond the operating room. It seems that he wanted to be the next Adam Kay, with his funny patient stories and awkward situations, but that for me didn't really hit. Yet still they got up and carried on, what other choice did they have and they found humour and a connection with humanity wherever they could.

An example I would like to point out on page 121 is when an old lady is about to have a procedure done and the only thing that she requests is that her dentures be put to her side ready for her when she wakes up again as her family are unaware of the fact she has false teeth. The rest of the book describes with detail and humour what it is to be a junior doctor and, latterly, an anaesthetist. But if you really want to know more, anaesthesiologist and comedian Ed Patrick wrote a book about it.

Patrick are crucial in providing intravenous access, making them the go-to person during challenging moments when doctors and nurses struggle to get cannula into patients with difficult veins in the ward. He also created and presented "Infectious Personalities" broadcasted on BBC Radio 2 where his guests include Charlie Brooker and Sindhu Vee. Anaesthetist and comedian Ed Patrick shares many funny and touching stories from his journey to working as an NHS specialist and a bit (although not too much, as we’re all sick of it!

Catch Your Breath is absolutely hilarious and really helped to lessen some of my health and hospital anxiety that I’ve really struggled with for years. It seems like he was going for a "funny doctor" kind of vibe, but with the countless anecdotes, all about him doing something awkward or being insecure about himself, all he's done is convince me that he's just not that good of a doctor. They faced an emotional and physical threat and did so with little thought other than treating those most in need. Hard hitting and hilariously funny, not quite the combination youd expect from a behind the scenes tale of an anaesthetist! For those on the front line, in our hospitals and ambulances, our GP surgeries, we asked of them to walk towards a virus that threatened both their lives and of those they cared about.This is a human, mature, yet humorous account of life as a junior medic, in perhaps the most testing of times. Sparse is an effective style, I just wanted to see more of his own style come through in the rest of the book. I think Catch Your Breath is one of these books that everyone must read, so I therefore recommend it to everyone. Nothing in their training could prepare them for the onslaught of the loss of life, the relentless waves of admissions, lack of governmental support and the terrible knowledge that there was little they could do!